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Drinking Liberally Cincinnati

Are you afflicted by flashes of anger over the current political scene? If so, then come get your weekly dose of Estrogen Therapy. Once a week, a bunch of liberal ladies dish politics, women’s issues, and whatever is in their craw.

This week Roe v. Wade for Men: Should men financially support children they did not intend to have? The therapy session starts now.

Jerri Mander said:No! If we are talking about [having children] out of wedlock. If they are married it's a horse of a different color.The man should not have to support the child unless he freely offers to do so. If a Woman decides to carry a pregnancy to term and have a child against the wishes of the father, I don't think the father has any responsibility.

Chella said: Yes, men should be responsible for the children they father, just the same as women. If you don’t want to pay child support---put on a condom! When we look at issues of poverty, the majority are single women with children. So yes, men absolutely need to step up to the plate and share the responsibility and the financial burden. We’re not asking for a Father of the Year, just ensuring the basic needs of children can be met to the best of our ability. The bigger issue is focusing our time and attention on preventing the unplanned pregnancy in the first place with attention paid to birth control access and education.

Nattie said: I have some disjointed thoughts to share about this topic:

1. The idealist side of me says that a man should want to support a child, even if he didn’t plan to have it or the woman decided to have the child anyway. However, the feminist side of me says that a woman who decides to have a child knowing that there is a good chance that the male partner will not support the child should prepare mentally, financially and emotionally to support that child alone.

2. I feel that too much emphasis is placed on traditional, two-parent, biological families, as somehow this is the “best” model to define family. Single women CAN be good mothers.

3. What pisses me off about this entire subject is that women are vilified by the right for preventing conception or getting abortions. Somehow, her actions concerning the unborn are more morally offensive than a man’s lack of action and support after the child is born. If the religious right are so concerned about children, they why aren’t they taking men to task for abandoning children, whether they were planned pregnancies or not? The whole anti-abortion rhetoric of “respect life” should extend to children AFTER they’re born.

Note: This week's discussion was truncated, hopefully next week will be a little longer.

This concludes this week session. Tell us what you think in the comments section.